Animal Farm: RediscoveringsocialismFriday, 07 August 2015

Beasts of England: Animal Farmʼs 1954 animation was partly funded by the CIA.

George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a damning fable of the USSR inthe mid-twentieth century, while in 2015 Europe is witnessing asurge of left-wing support. Can socialism make a comeback?

‘The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, andfrom pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which waswhich.’

So ends George Orwell’s 1945 novella, Animal Farm, an allegorical ‘fairystory’ which criticises the devastating corruption and hypocrisy of the SovietUnion (USSR) under the Communist dictator Joseph Stalin.

Stalin began as a revolutionary socialist who played a key role inoverthrowing the Russian monarchy in 1917, an event which is mirrored bythe rebellion against Jones in Animal Farm. Like socialism, ‘Animalism’presents an idealistic vision of an equal society with a fair distribution ofwealth and labour.

Stalin quickly rose through the political ranks, and eventually took powerafter exiling his more idealistic opponent, Leon Trotsky. In the novella, thepowerful pig Napoleon uses similar tactics to get rid of his rival Snowball.

But the horrors of Stalin’s USSR were not fiction: tens of millions of peoplewere killed, from ordinary workers to members of the government who Stalinbelieved might oppose his leadership.

Many cite the USSR and other failed Communist states as proof thatsocialism cannot work in practice. However, throughout Europe, parties withsocialist principles have witnessed a surge of support. In Greece, for example,the left-wing coalition Syriza spent the first half of 2015 attempting tonegotiate its way out of right-wing austerity policies, an ambition which wassupported by 60% of its voters in a referendum in July.

More recently, the UK’s Labour leadership race has witnessed the risingpopularity of the ‘veteran’ left-wing candidate Jeremy Corbyn, who argues infavour of ending austerity, nationalising railways, and scrapping the UK’snuclear programme. As Corbyn’s poll numbers climb, the possibility of asocialist opposition party has become increasingly likely.

‘More equal than others’

Somewhat ironically, Animal Farm is a story about human nature. One

You decide1. Why did Orwell originally give Animal

Farm the subtitle ‘A Fairy Storyʼ?

2. Is socialism doomed to fail?

Activities1. Write a modern-day version of Animal

Farm, using a current political story as

your inspiration.

2. Plan an essay on the role of socialism

in Animal Farm.

Some people say...‘Man is the only creature that consumeswithout producing.̓

George Orwell, Animal Farm

What do you think?

Q & AIsnʼt the Soviet Union over?

Itʼs true: in 1991, the Soviet Union

officially collapsed and 15

independent countries were

established — including Russia. But

interpretation of the novel argues that humanity’s love of power and greedwill always be its downfall, and socialism is doomed to fail because of it.However good-hearted the intentions of ordinary workers, it only takes a fewpowerful people to exploit and oppress them.

But society has learned from the mistakes of the twentieth century, socialistsupporters argue. Orwell was criticising the corruption of an elite who hadhijacked socialism for their own ends. Jeremy Corbyn and Syriza’s AlexisTsipras are democrats who can be voted out again if people change theirminds. Economic inequality is rising, and many feel a growing desire forchange — socialism might be the answer.

like all of history, there are lessons

which can be learnt, and Animal Farm

does a particularly effective job of

articulating the hypocrisy and tyranny

of Stalinʼs regime.

Could Corbyn become prime minister?

At the time of writing, he is leading

the Labour leadership polls with 42%

of the votes — a huge number for a

race with four contenders. But while

he is popular with Labour voters, heʼs

unpopular with Labour MPs — some

even fear that the party could split

under his leadership. Even if he won,

few believe he would last until the

general election in 2020.

Word watchCommunist

This political system is the most

revolutionary and authoritarian form

of socialism, in which everything is

owned by the people, managed by the

state, and distributed according to

need. In theory, this removes the need

for unequal class systems. In practice,

it has led to low motivation and

widespread poverty.

Socialist

This is the ideology from which

Communism was born. Socialists

oppose capitalism, in which

individualsʼ wealth determines their

quality of life. Under socialism, the

government is responsible for

reducing inequality. This has various

interpretations; free healthcare and

education are socialist ideas used in

capitalist countries.

Tens of millions

It is unclear how many people were

killed; estimates range from 34 to 59

million.

Austerity

After the 2008 financial crash, most

countries reduced spending to avoid

disaster. But how far should austerity

measures go? Right-wing politicians

argue that governments should not

spend more than they earn, and cut

spending accordingly. The left argues

that economies cannot grow if cuts

lead to inadequate public spending.